School speed zones are a growing concern in Regina.
While Regina’s speed limit in school zones is 40 km/h, most other jurisdictions cap it at 30 km/h.
“Drop it, I’m all in favour of it,” resident Darci Anderson said.
“I’m absolutely for it. The slower you go, the more time you have to react,” resident Jonah Norman-Gray said.
According to the World Health Organization, a pedestrian struck by a car travelling at 45 km/h survives less than half the time, but the survival rate jumps to 90 per cent at 30 km/h.
“I think it would be a good idea to drop it just because people speed through here all the time,” Lois Clark, Kids First Home employee, said. “I have helped children cross the street over the years just because people aren’t seeing them because they’re too short.”
The city’s traffic safety committee is studying school zone signage, signals and methods for handling parent drop-off zones.
Coun. Mike O’Donnell wants to see passing prohibited in school zones.
“Some people will slow down or stop for the kids to cross and other people who are not so patient will want to pull out and pass within a school zone,” O’Donnell said.
The committee is also considering school zone hours and how reduced speed limits might add to congestion.
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“Even if it did a little bit, I don’t think the fact that somebody took an extra five minutes to get to work should put our kids at risk,” Gray said.
Although the city’s traffic safety committee has been studying the issue for 17 months, it still needs more time, Norman Kyle, Regina’s director of roadways and transportation, said.
“There are some preliminary recommendations that need to be researched further,” he said.
The city is potentially looking at adopting new rules to meet national standards, he added.
“Nationally they treat school zones somewhat differently. They look at the age of the students, the accessibility of the school itself, the type of road, the traffic volumes, the amount of pedestrians, and then they’ll actually distinguish between a school zone and a school area,” Kyle said.
If Regina followed national guidelines, it’s possible the school zone on Victoria would no longer exist, he added.
“It has no access onto Victoria, all the accesses are on a side street. One intersection is signalized, and the other has a protected overhead crosswalk. The school yard is fully fenced, so you have to go out to the side and around it,” Kyle said.
The traffic safety committee will give an update to the executive committee on Wednesday but won’t have any final recommendations until sometime before next summer, he said.
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